Samuel Read Hall (October 27, 1795 – June 24, 1877) was an American educator.

Life

He was born in Croydon, New Hampshire, the son of a clergyman. When he was three years old, his family moved to Guildhall, Vermont. Samuel was home-schooled and never attended a college. In 1814, he was employed as a teacher in Rumford, Maine. He studied to become a minister in

Meriden, New Hampshire Meriden is an unincorporated community in the eastern part of the town of Plainfield in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. Meriden is home to Kimball Union Academy, a private boarding school. New Hampshire Route 120 New Hampshire R ...

, and gained his license in 1823. He became the principal at an academy in Fitchburg, Massachusetts in 1822. In 1823, he started the first

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

, or school for training of teachers and educators, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Subsequently, he ran the institution, located in Concord, Vermont, until 1830. He helped found the American Institute of Instruction in 1829, the oldest educational association in the U.S. In 1830, he accepted the invitation to lead the newly formed English Academy & Teachers Seminary, part of Phillips Academy at

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...

. At Andover, in addition to leading what was the second teacher training program in the United States, he also published training manuals and school textbooks and played a leading role in the school reform movement. From 1837 to 1840, he ran a teachers' seminary in Plymouth, New Hampshire. At an academy in

Craftsbury, Vermont Craftsbury is a town in Orleans County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,343 at the 2020 census. The town includes the unincorporated villages of Craftsbury, Craftsbury Common, Mill Village, and East Craftsbury. History The stat ...

, he then established a teacher's department, which he ran until 1846. He served as pastor in Brownington and

Granby, Vermont Granby is a town in Essex County, Vermont, United States. The town was named for the Marquis of Granby. The population was 81 at the 2020 census. Granby is part of the Berlin, NH–VT Micropolitan Statistical Area. Granby was one of t ...

from 1846 to 1875. He died in Brownington, Vermont, and is buried in Pleasant View Cemetery. The house in which he lived in Brownington from 1856 to 1877 is now part of the

Brownington Village Historic District The Brownington Village Historic District is a historic site in Brownington, Vermont, United States. It is located near the intersection of Hinman and Brownington Center roads. It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places o ...

Philosophy

He recommended that children studying geography first study their local surroundings and progressively expand outwards to town, state, country, then world. In his Lectures on School Keeping, he points out significant obstacles to the instruction of children in the American schools of 1829: # Lack of simple display media such as a globe of the world. (He is credited with inventing the blackboard, and the blackboard eraser) # Political factions within the school district, at war with each other at the expense of educational progress. # Wealthy citizens sending their children to private schools. # Schools exact no moral influence, in turn becoming a school for bad behavior. # Poorly qualified teachers. # Poor remuneration of qualified teachers. # Poor quality of textbooks, or lack of fitness for learning capacity of student.

Awards and honors

* The library at

Lyndon State College Lyndon State College was a public liberal arts college at Lyndon, Vermont. In 2018, it merged with Johnson State College to create Northern Vermont University; the former campus of Lyndon State College is now the university's Lyndon campus ...

is named after him.

Samuel Read Hall Library The Samuel Read Hall Library is the library at Lyndon State College, a member of the Vermont State College system. The library is named for Samuel Read Hall, an educational pioneer and native Vermonter and is located in the Library Academic Cen ...

The

at LSC. * The Samuel Read Hall Building at

Plymouth State University Plymouth State University (PSU), formerly Plymouth State College, is a public university in the towns of Plymouth and Holderness, New Hampshire. As of fall 2020, Plymouth State University enrolls 4,491 students (3,739 undergraduate students ...

is named after him. *Shadow Lake, Concord Vermont, once formally known as “Hall’s Pond” was named after him. *Halls Brooke, Concord, Vermont is still named after him

Partial bibliography

* ''Instructor's Manual, or Lectures on School Keeping'', Boston, 1829. * ''Lectures to Female Teachers on School-keeping'', Boston, 1832. * ''Lectures to School-Masters on Teaching'', Boston, 1833. * ''The Arithmetical Manual'', Andover, 1832. * ''The Child's Assistant to a Knowledge of the Geography and History of Vermont'', Vermont, 1827.

Footnotes

References

External links

*
Samuel Read Hall Biography
from the Old Stone House Museum, Brownington, VT {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Samuel Read 1795 births 1877 deaths American educators People from Rumford, Maine People from Croydon, New Hampshire People from Craftsbury, Vermont People from Orleans County, Vermont